Maya Angelou
Million Man
March Poem
The night has been long,
The wound has been deep,
The pit has been dark,
And the walls have been steep.
Under a dead blue sky on a distant beach,
I was dragged by my braids just beyond your reach.
Your hand were tied, your mouth was bound,
You couldn’t event call out my name.
You were helpless and so was I,
But unfortunately throughout history
You’ve worn a badge of shame.
I say, the night has been long,
The wound has been deep,
The pit has been dark
And the wall has been steep.
But today, voices of old spirit sound
Speak to us in words profound,
Across the oceans, across the
seas.
They say, draw near to one another,
Save your race.
You have been paid for in a distance place.
The old ones remind us that slavery’s chains
Have paid for our freedom again and again.
The night has been long,
The pit has been deep,
The night has been dark,
And the wall has been steep.
The hells we have lived through and live through still,
Have sharpened our senses and toughened our will.
The night has been long.
This morning I look through tour anguish
Right down to your soul.
I know that with each other we can make ourselves whole.
I look through the posture and pass your disguise,
And see your love for family in your big brown eyes.
I say, clap hands and let’s come together in this meeting ground,
I say, clap hands and let’s deal with each other with love,
I say, clap hands and let us get from the low road of indifference,
Clap hands, let us come together and reveal our hearths,
Let us come together and revise our spirits,
Let us come together and cleanse our souls,
Clap hands, let’s leave the preening
And stop impostering our own history.
Clap hands, call the spirits back from the ledge,
Clap hands, let us invite joy in to our conversation,
Courtesy in to our bedrooms,
Gentleness in to our kitchen,
Care into our nursery.
The ancestors remind us, despite the history of pain
We are going-on people who will rise again.
And still we rise.
1. Does the poet manipulate the meaning of words using
any of the following poetic devices:
a.
Connotation: The poet
manipulate the meaning of words using connotation in the first stanza until the
end of stanza.
The night has been long,
The pit has been deep,
The night has been dark,
And the wall has been steep.
………………………………...,
And we still a
rise
b. Allusion: A brief, indirect or passing reference to some event,
person, place, or artistic work, the nature and relevance of which is not
explained by the writer but relies on the reader’s familiarity with what it
those mentioned.
You’ve worn a badge of
shame.
c. Repetition:
Words of phrase use to structure their writing as well as to add interest.
The night has been long,
The pit has been deep,
The night has been dark,
And the wall has been steep.
(this stanza repeated in 3rd
and 5th stanza).
I say, clap hands and let’s come together in this meeting ground,
I say, clap hands and let’s deal with each other with love,
I say, clap hands and let us get from the low road of indifference,(7th
stanza).
d. Ambiguity:
Use of words or phrase in such a way as to give it two or more competing
meaning. This happen on 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th
stanza.
Under a dead blue sky on a distant beach.
Your hand were tied, your mouth was bound,
This morning I took through tour anguish,
e. Punning: An ambiguous
statement that is intended to be humorous.
( No punning in all stanza).
f. Paradox or oxymoron:
no paradox.
g. Irony:
Discrepancy between appearance and reality.
Under a dead blue sky on a distant beach,
I was dragged by my braids just beyond your reach.
Your hand were tied, your mouth was bound,
You couldn’t event call out my name.
You were helpless and so was I,
2. Examine the poem’s imagery. Are any images repeated
or otherwise emphasized? Does the imagery in the poem develop according to a
logical pattern? Can you determine why the poet uses the images that she does?
Ø Images repeated as well as emphasized:
The night has been long,
The pit has been deep,
The night has been dark,
And the wall has been steep.
The poet uses the images to show that she lives in suppression of her
race. She want to strive against but she hopeless.
3.What forms of poetic comparison are used and what do
they add to the poem’s imagery and meaning?
Ø Comparison:
But today, voices of old spirit
sound,
Speak to us in a words profound,
Across the ocean, across the seas,
Ø Imagery:
-
Personification:
The night has been long,
The pit has been deep,
The night has been dark,
And the wall has been steep.
-
Metonymy:
This morning I look through tour anguish,
Ø Meaning:
The poet expresses the depth of her sadness.
4.Does the poem make use of symbol or allegory?
Ø Symbol: in 2nd,
6th, stanza.
Under a dead blue sky on a distant beach,
I was dragged by my braids just beyond your reach.
Your hand were tied, your mouth was bound,
You couldn’t event call out my name.
You were helpless and so was I,
Ø Allegory: a system of implied comparisons.
Courtesy in to our bedrooms,
Gentleness in to our kitchen,
Care into our nursery.
5. What is the general mood or tone of the poem? Is
ist consistent throughout or is there a shift?
Ø Mood or tone of
the poem:
The poet
showing the hopeless at the beginning of the stanza (1st
until 3rd stanza), but at the beginning of 4th stanza,
the poet try to come up and try to rise against the condition.
Ø The mood or tone of the poem is a shift. It can be seen in the 1st until 3rd
stanza, then the mood is a shift in the
next stanza.
6. What is the situation or occasion of the poem?
Ø the situation or occasion
of the poem:
It was happen in nineteen eighties, the situation was
so bad for the black American because of the apartheid system. They should battle for surviving their race.
Ø the setting of
time and space: April4 1928. In
USA.
7. Paraphrase and summarize the poem. What’s the
theme, argument, central idea and how is developed?
Ø Theme: Truth, pain, love, understanding, and rebellion of
the black people.
Ø Argument: Her race was sacrifice by the apartheid system.
Ø Central idea: The rebellion.
Ø The poem developed to give spirit to her people to fight against injustice toward her race.
8. What is the meter and rhyme
scheme of the poem?
a. End rhyme ( at the end of
a stanza-line):
The night has been long,(a)
The pit has been deep,(b)
The night has been dark,(c)
And the wall has been steep.(b)
(In the first stanza, and repeated in
3rd and 5th stanza).
b.Internal
rhyme (within stanza line), also formula poem that employs repetition:
The night has been long,(a)
The pit has been deep,(a)
The night has been dark,(a)
And the wall has been steep.(a)
(In the first stanza, and repeated in
3rd and 5th stanza).
c. Perfect rhyme/exact rhyme:
Under a dead blue sky on a distance beach,
d. Approximate rhyme/half
rhyme:
…….. distance beach,
…….. your reach,
…….. and live through still,
…….. and toughened our will.
e. Masculine rhyme:
You’ve worn a badge of shame.
f. Feminine rhyme:
Have sharpened our senses and toughened our will.
Other significant repetitions
of sounds occur in the poem:
Clap hands, let us come together and reveal our hearths,
Clap hands, let’s leave the preening,
Clap hands, call the spirits back from the ledge,
Clap hands, let us invite joy in to our conversation,
Ø The contribution to the effect of the poem: It gives stress to the meaning and the
objectives of poem to influence the reader.
Ø The form of the poem : Rhymed Verse Forms, and the meter, rhyme, scheme, and form are appropriate.
9. How well do you think the
poet has achieved a total integration of her materials?
Ø The poet gives perfect total integration of her materials, the
meter, rhyme, scheme and form are appropriate. The emotion and the meaning is
quite clear.
Ø My reaction to the poem: This is truly one of the all time great.
Truth, pain, love, and understanding rain in this piece…….Things we need to do
and still we have yet to do, but we are learning to do, and I will very proud
when we can do.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar